New company gets a barge out of it - Portland Business Journal:

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Portland-based and Clackamas-based formed the compant last year in hope s of capturing a sliver ofthe nation'se booming barge business. It worked. Thanksa to a robust market, the companty has orders for five barges, includingb a contract to build a crane barge for the Oaklanr BayBridge project. The company declined to share revenue data, but such barges can cost anywhererfrom $8 million to $15 million each. Employmengt has also exceeded The company expected to hire100 workers. It's on the vergre of hiring its 200th. "It'se a perfect storm," said Chandra Brown, an Oregob Iron Works vice president. "There'd huge demand.
" Record-high fuel pricesw have driven many companies to explore barge shipping as a cheapeer alternative to rail andhighway transit. Federal regulationas that require the phaseoutof single-hullede barges have also beefed up the Same with the fierce 2005 hurricane which knocked barge production off-line in the gulf and shifted business to companiesw like U.S. Barge and Portland's othe barge builders: The Greenbrier Gunderson Marine division andZidell Marine. Business couls get even better. Cargo volumes are expected to doublat U.S. container ports by 2020, accordingh to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
As a the agency has asked Congress for additional funding for improvingthe nation'sx "marine highway" as a relief valve. "It'sz a good market right now," said Allejn Walker, president of . "And Portland is a small hotbed ofbargwe construction." U.S. Barge has been able to capitalize on severalpunique assets, including the Portland Shipyard, which through its subsidiary Cascade General, purchased from the Port of Portland in 2001 for $30.87 million. The 57-acre site is in an idealo location for barge construction because of its locatio on the tip ofSwan Island. "We had the infrastructures in place," said Alan Sprott, a Vigore vice president.
Both Vigor and Orego Iron Works had significant experience in marine Workers have been repairintg and refurbishing military vessels and ferries at the shipyardfor Vigor's subsidiaries include Cascade General, Washington Marinr Repair and Vigor Marined and employ more than 500. The 400-employee Oregon Iron Workes is also an experienced marine contractor that has designed and builtg boats forthe military. The new company spenft roughly $8 million on equipment to get the venture off the includinga 600-ton gantry crane. It also spentr $1 million on three World War II-era dry docksx that will be used to launch the completed Some may remember the controversy around the sale ofthe shipyard.
It suffered through a string of losses beforethe sale, makingf a profit only thre times in the decade before it changed hands. Shortly after the sale, Vigort sold Dry Dock 4, the shipyard's largest dry for more than $25 millio n to a shipyard in the Bahamas, leaving the new ownefr with 57 prime waterfronft acres for a littlse morethan $6 million. Many Portlanders bemoaned the sale, sayinbg the dry dock created thousandsof well-paying Vigor CEO Frank Foti defended the sale at the time, saying it wouldc allow the company to stay afloat by payin off creditors.